Well...I had a 2001 Audi S4 in immaculate condition, only 39,xxx miles (because I had another car in TX and also I walk to the hospital - I am a resident at Hopkins). Well the damn car was stolen 2-3 months ago. Was recovered but stripped down. As my residency has only a year left I needed a car that wasnt expensive, reliable and maybe could resell at minimal loss or (cross my finger) no loss when I'm done w the residency.

Anyways I got a Titanium Grey 05 hatch in immaculate condition! It has one door ding that I have to look for to find, because I can never find it when I'm searching for it (for some reason it is down low) Mileage is a bit high at 75k, but it drives great! It has Alpine 7" LCD, Alpine 872A nav that you can command w your voice, XM (which I don't subscribe to), Infinity Kappas all around and two 6.5" Sony LCDs on the back headrests. I was like wow...this is neat. And its completely stock on the outside which is what I like. I don't like ricer material. My S4 was tastefully done too, mostly interior mods and lowered an inch. I haggled the dealer down to 7995 which I think was a really good price considering. The Carfax was perfect (used to be a rental which kind of makes me shudder since I abuse rental cars, then one owner after that). Anyways...that's how fate brought me to the Mazda3 hatch. Overall, it seems very well built although I feel handling is twitchy (the 17" rims are narrow), and no adaptive steering compared to the S4, so I have to get used to lane changes because my passengers thing I'm driving too aggressive which I stopped doing when I turned 27 (I'm now 30).

To make a long story short, I'm impressed with the car and the build. MUCH better mileage than my S4, presumably lower maintenance cost im sure (although I had no problems with my S4), and I guess I won't be quite as p*ssed off if it gets door dings or bumper scrapes...I am in Baltimore City after all, and can't wait to get out of this ghetto town. Cheers everyone and glad to meet you all

 

Congrats on the 3, and welcome to the club, channelv.

 

Thanks! It's not quite like my S4 (which I put about 8 grand in modifications), but it is light on its feet, nimble and gives me nearly the same amount of fun. Also mods cost a lot less although I doubt I'll do much to this one. I'm getting old now I suppose, just turned 30 couple months ago.

Contrary to the not modding much: just the past 2 weeks I got brand new RX-8 wheels with 235/40s, and the OEM front sills and rear sills for the 04-06 models, and 6k xenons : ) So with all those interior mods and the subtle outer mods, I think that's just about it for me - just to keep it in great shape will be my "modding" from now on. I think the stock suspension looks just fine with the 18"s on 235/40s, no excessive gap. No lowering for me. I had Neuspeed Race and Koni adjustables (for dampening that is, to raise it, I'd have to remove the whole setup and reinstall) on the S4 and....yeah. I scraped so much. It's great to be able to drive and not worry about ramps etc.

I'm always on the look out for an 07+ grille however, but no biggie

 

Check it:

http://tripointengineering.com/infor...77421e8c230a08

..just in case you have some money left over.